In an oddly uneven and crumbling cabin - Santa Barbara’s oldest, he claims - Merkel is the last holdout in a community of 27 cabins off Paradise Road and across from Paradise Park in the Santa Ynez Mountains. His “recreational residence” lease, which has allowed the cabin to occupy U.S. Forest Service land for almost 100 years, is finally up. Merkel was asked in November to vacate the cabin, which, after nearly a century of occupation, now faces demolition.

Paul Wellman

Long overlooked by the Forest Service, which Merkel says has been very kind up to the point of eviction, the cabin breaks countless building codes. “They let it all slide year after year,” says Merkel. “They always figured it was about to be torn down.”

Now it finally is.

As of his move-out date, however, Merkel remains. He believes he has one last hope for preserving the cabin - its strong historical value to the Santa Barbara area - and he is making his last stand. He held an open house on Saturday, April 4, to let the public get a look at his cabin and its grounds, littered as they are with remnants of California’s past.

At least part of the cabin was built in 1918 by Wylie C. Nielson. In Merkel’s estimation, that was the year the cabin began. Originally built as a one-room hunting lodge for the Nielson family - whose undeniable roots in Santa Barbara history include the mayoral terms of Harry Nielson from 1918 to 1935 - additions have been made over the last 91 years, with rooms added by various owners over the cabin’s lifespan. “It’s a cultural Frankenstein,” laughs Merkel. “It’s not Martha Stewart. It’s a little bohemian.”

Paul Wellman

Tom Merkel

Is it ever. With many windows missing, and piles of unused appliances, tangled and busted guitars and broken sofas obstructing much of the interior, it’s not so easy on the eyes in the first walk-through. One of the rooms is actually built out of an interwar Fiesta float designed for WWI veterans, complete with unflattering cartoons of the Kaiser. From the outside, one can clearly see where one era in building ended and the next began. It was a shaky-handed surgeon who put the pieces of Santa Barbara’s oldest cabin together.

Yet the Merkel estate is, unquestionably, one of a kind. “My commitment,” says Merkel, “is to history.” He believes Santa Barbara will have lost an important tie to its past if the cabin is destroyed, and he has been fighting its demolition for years. Now, as the last day of the cabin’s life may be approaching, he remarks, “I’m willing to go to jail over principle.” He adds with a grin, “Plus, it will look good on my resume.”

Paul Wellman

Merkel claims to have found himself in the Santa Barbara area shortly after his business partner died at sea. He purchased the cabin not from the Nielson family, but from a man named Baird Caswell - “the second cousin,” Merkel claims, “to Nelson Rockefeller.”

And while Nielson family representative Michael Collins said the family would love to see the cabin survive, that’s not why the leaning structure is so dear to Merkel. It is rather the clutter in and surrounding the house - not the clean, guided-tour history of a museum, but the well-used and authentically worn leftovers of a society that moved from one era into another - that Merkel does not want to see swept away. Merkel, and the cabin’s previous owner Baird “Rockefeller” Caswell, have compiled the physical history of California’s last 50 years in rusting chassis, bathtubs, and streetlights.

Towering sculptures made from scrap metal stand surrounded by scrap metal. Stoves and pianos, road signs, washing machines, and motorcycles fill the grounds. One can track the progress and abandonment of suburban culture in Merkel’s backyard, and in the “rescued” decommissioned fixtures of a changing society.

Paul Wellman

His passion and his hospitality emphatically genuine, Merkel revels in public interest and is quick to welcome visitors. He tells the story of one urban family who were pulled off the road by the irresistible allure of Merkel’s signs promising: “Santa Barbara’s oldest cabin!” and “Folk Art Magic Museum!” While touring the grounds with astonishment, the smallest member of the family cried, “Dad, I thought Hobbit-houses were for pretend!” Merkel says he could think of no good reason to set the kid straight.

His unique historical sentimentality can be seen in what Merkel calls his “other place” or his “gigantic cultural time capsule” - a car museum in the Cuyama Valley. Consisting of more than a thousand automobiles from the past hundred years, it is a monument to abandonment and lost history. Merkel is a collector, in the most basic and inclusive sense. He recently “rescued” the towering Frosty the Snowman from Santa Claus Lane, giving it permanent residence keeping watch over a sea of old Buicks, Cadillacs, and Lincolns.

Josh Fields, great-great-grandson of W.C. Fields, says his family has been in Santa Barbara for generations and long ago befriended Merkel. He commented on what seems to be a grave behind the house, marked with a WWII American G.I. helmet and the name “Fergusen,” asking: “Tom, is there someone buried there?” Merkel frowned in thought and answered, “No one I’ve buried.”

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After decades living in a cabin off Paradise Road, Tom Merkel is being forced out.

In fact, most would find the word “crackpot” irresistibly intruding behind any impression of Merkel. But as the sweet vagabond scent of beer permeates the dank and musty corners of his estate, his love of all things abandoned and faded from memory becomes contagious. One becomes hopelessly charmed by Tom Merkel - steward of the unconsidered refuse of California history. A Don Quixote in the mountains in a battle without a villain, Merkel and his antiques are victim to the inevitable expiration of contractually allotted time.

The Forest Service, no heartless corporation, regrets the need to remove the cabin. “It’s very unfortunate,” said Kyle Kinports, Forest Service representative, of the hard task of evicting Merkel. “It’s a very special place for him.” The fact is that the Forest Service has had a plan to remove the cabins since 1970. “We have to provide a minimum of 10years notice before we evict anyone,” Kinports said. And they did.

So what’s next for Tom Merkel? He says that when the house changed hands between he and Caswell, “Baird packed two bags and left it all behind.” This exit always appealed to Merkel, who believes everything donated by others and “rescued” by him belongs now to the house. “If I go,” he says with a sad smile, “I’m only packing two bags. Like Baird.”

Comments

It's been so long since they started forcing families out of there that I forget why it was so neccessary. It's all part of that fear of those we don't know and more and more becoming unwilling to let them be. Anyone who finds a different way to live, usually a cheaper way, has been frowned down on. Santa Barbara was special in it's embrace of these folks for so long. Going to Paradise back in the 60s and 70s was a retreat and even more so in the 80s as progressed marched into SB. Now into the 21st Century we should ponder this final loss freedom in Paradise.

I thoroughly, thoroughly agree with SmileySam. What a pity, what a sadness for Merkel, but also for all of us who (once, maybe) treasured this area in its entirety. ...The Tea Fire removed one of the best parts of Santa Barbara - the building codes will take care it will never be as it was, just like. The Forest Service is like the Tea Fire on Paradise Road for the human inhabitants.

Grammar!! She's important! Defend her honor!!"...when the house changed hands between he and Caswell..." should read: "changed hands between himself and Caswell..." although the basic sentence is awkwardly constructed. The reporter (and copy editor, by extension) appears to be part of America using such constructs as "between you and I," which should sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to more ears than it does. Nice article, otherwise...

Yay, Pagarus! That caught my attention as well but I passed, wanting to start the week more positively. Hurrah for you.

Better construction would have been: "When the house changed hands from Caswell, ... " (note also the comma.)

I hate "between Tom and I" or sometimes and worse "between him and I" --- and that other prevalent misusage: "Me and my friends are going...."

English grammar has so few rules why the difficulty! It's like the round-about, I guess: when there's only one, yield to the left, or object after a preposition, the mind, searching complexity, gets confused.

Did you see the "cabin" on KEYT last night? It is a junkyard. And Sam, if your point (that I 'proved') is that there are those who don't appreciate freeloaders (what, after all is a cheap lease on government land, if not a gift from the taxpayer), then you're right - I proved it! The 60's and 70's were truly an interesting time (yeah, I was there) - one of the lessons from that era is that there are some people in this country who are perfectly happy to live off the work of others indefinitely in the name of "freedom".

And there are some people in this country perfectly willing to live off the misery of others, stomping on their hearts along the way...Old junk is much more beautiful than new junk it lasts longer too...

Very easy to call it junk and Merkle a freeloader. What is not so easy is to really recognize that Santa Barbara's unique bohemian history is nearly gone, having been replaced by homes for the wealthy. Is it really not worth preserving one of the last remaining examples? The Watts Towers were considered junk by many and about to be torn down before they were saved. Many other works of art and buildings were not so lucky. How many original Chumash structures were preserved around the mission? And no, they weren't all "straw huts." You won't see a single one in town. Not even a ruin. Why? Because someone thought it was all junk. But the mission itself was not touched. The conquistadors brought with them both their religion and their architecture, the latter having become fervently adopted locally and enforced as a monochromatic red-tiled-roof norm. Santa Barbara's bohemian culture was strong and a big part of the town's identity. Merkle's cabin is chock full of that identity and the vanishing local folk art of the 70s. Is it ramshackle and dilapidated? Yes. But it has a hundred years of local personality and deserves to be preserved as is. You won't see any examples of an Okie jalopy in a car museum despite the thousands that came across to California because they were considered junk and their owners considered bums and "freeloaders." It is time we look more deeply at the varied history of this town and the value of the layers that have made it what it is. Bulldozing the oldest cabin in the county is both short sighted and historically ignorant.

Well, jalama, one of my ancestors drove one of those jalopies to California, after collecting (free, of course) all the furniture he could from his friends and relatives. He continued to be a bum and a freeloader in California, couldn't or wouldn't keep a job, sold the furniture, and returned home with his "the world owes me a living" attitude intact, perhaps because of some of the folks he met in California who shared that attitude. A bum is a bum. A jalopy is a jalopy. And a freeloader is a freeloader. All the bleedingheartism in the world will never change that.

Will I must say I agree with you there I have that in my family too...One fella is a pretty well known California attorney, another was a police cheif, still another a Chicago Cop who was awarded many times for saving lives, one of my Sisters very high in the business community..Advertising, business execs..Vice presidents of companies..Gosh Darn Yuppie Scum!!!! Not me I got hit on the head and I'm not all there and I'm proud of it....P.S. I don't use a bong it's too rich for my blood I use an old Budweiser can made in America.

Jalama, I have no idea what you are saying. And Byrd, whether its the bong or alcohol or whatever, you are making no sense.

But, gee, I guess there are freeloaders and then there are those who make excuses for the freeloaders. Of course, in an anonymous blog, one might reasonably assume that those making excuses are themselves freeloaders.....

Well, you don't, do you? That's the beauty/problem with anonymous blogging - no identities and no personal responsibility (anathema to my namesake). But one might reasonably conclude that if I were a freeloader I wouldn't be chastising other freeloaders. What about you?

John: How do we know your not an illegal alien from outer space...John: How do you know your not an illegal alien from inter space of thy ars? Your a funny guy I've enjoyed this lets do it again..Until then you have no room to talk bad about Tom Merkal he's a good man and always has been...People...People, always reading a book from the cover..That's why everyone is phoney to you...You are phoney to you..

Poor John Locke, he can't help himself. He is so consumed with rage against others that he can't contribute anything of value to this discussion. People like this are to be pitied. They are so worried that others might be a threat to their house of cards that they can't think straight.

They are so consumed with fear that they may find themselves poor, sick, old and without resources in the not too distant future, themselves being called "bums", "freeloaders" etc. by scared little souls hanging on to what little they think they have with all their meager might.

Who knows why people act that way, but they aren't fixable.Thus the focus must be on why SB has become so hostile to anyone who doesn't fit in with the red-tiled Borg ship called Santa Barbara.

The USFS has a rich history of ignoring the will of the people; to wit, the "Adventure Pass" which was forced down our throats, like it or not. At the usual "stakeholders meetings" held by these kinds of organizations, the result was predictable: "Thank you for your input, but we don't give a sheet what you want, we're doing exactly as we please and you are getting the bill. Buh-bye!"

Santa Barbara of course, thinks this is just dandy because after all, that same behavior is practiced here on a daily basis. The little guy and the average Joe is treated like something these rich yahoos stepped in and can't wait to scrape off their pricey Italian loafers.

Bringing us to this gentle soul named Tom Merkel; who is simply living his life, peacefully, in his home, harming no one. But he MUST be dislodged, his home bulldozed, and parking spaces created for the USFS to extort more $ from "visitors".

Never mind that we...you and I...own that land; we have no rights to it, neither do the suckers who bought those homes.

So Tom Merkel will become yet another silent statistic, a walking wounded rent lemming in Santa Babylon, struggling and forking over every dime he makes to a slumlord.

Which is the plan to begin with; force everyone into rental ghettoes or out of town. Poor and working stiffs are not allowed to own homes, and certainly not in a peaceful, safe area. They must all live in ghettoes with gang-bangers and drunk college brats, dodging bullets and trying to stay a half-step ahead of the next rent increase.

Santa Barbara is an area in decay. There is nothing left for anyone but the very rich. Everyone else is left to struggle, fight for crumbs, and attack anyone who has anything they managed to clutch onto before the walls went up, the gates slammed shut, and the developers and government grabbed everything.

We are in for a terrifying future, folks, and the John Lockes can scream about "bums" and "freeloaders" all they want, but their day is coming too, and sooner than they realize. Tom Merkel is just a canary in a cage who died from lack of air...and instead of heeding that warning, down go the John Lockes, into the tunnel, blaming the canary for dying.

I too remember the 70's in Santa Barbara and there is no question that like was better back then. In those days, there was a more "bohemian" feel and free spirits such as Merkel abounded. Although my politics are to the right of most of those who blog on this site--and are certainly to the right of The Independent, I would MUCH rather have a neighbor such as Merkel than the frantic superficial Yuppies who have taken over Santa Barbara. I guess that makes me a "bleeding-hearted conservative".

And there are many people to the far right with hearts here in Santa Barbara I was a republican myself for many years I know many of them..And while my heart bleeds for others I don't like bullies and there are many homeless people that are bullies just like any other community there is everything so while there are laws for all of us I feel they should be fair for everyone..I disagree with the way some people are treated here in our little paradise...John Locke, Mr. Anonymous, are you the same John Locke in the online white pages or did you just take on some poor souls identity to get them in trouble? That's not very nice either way your a bulley and I don't like you but then either does your Mother and she can give you much more trouble than I can...Your probably one of those guys that likes to be spanked well you got the wrong Byrd here John I like women, sorry I'm sure you'll find what your looking for after all this is Santa Barbara..Then again if you are the J.L. In the white pages they used to have a pretty good Friday night speaker meeting right down the street from you, I'm sure you know what kind of meeting I'm talking about....Diapers Anonymous, just like John Locke very Anonymous...Kick Butt Holly!!! Wow!....

And as always, some people are reduced to namecalling and character assassination. John Locke is a character in American history who favored limited government and maximum individual responsibility and freedom. Duh.

These cabins on Paradise Road are not intended to be lived in year round. They are supposed to be weekend or vacation cabins for those who owned the 100 year leases. The Forest Service has been nice enough to allow people to live there all year as a primary residence.

I have seen some of the "self neglect" that has occurred in some of the cabins where the elderly residents resided. While many are described as "collectors", they could just as easily be considered "hoarders".

I feel bad for Tom Merkel but must say that he has known for quite some time that this was coming!

I truly sympathize with much of what Byrd and Holly have to say regarding the dislocation of long-time residents of SB due largely to the influx of non-SB money. However, in a free society, people can live where they choose. Some with the money to do so will tend to gravitate to beautiful surroundings with beautiful weather. Those so lucky as to have been raised in SB or lived here for 10 or 20 years are extraordinariIy lucky, but there are no guarantees that one gets to live anywhere indefinitely - just think of all those folks who lived in the Snow Belt for decades - think they might like an equal opportunity at some sunshine? I am not a rich Yuppie (or a rich anything for that matter), but I do have opinions different from some of you, particularly on the topic of individual responsibility, which does not make me a bully. Mr. Merkel may be a wonderful person, but he's been living on government land for years, knowing the lease was not a guarantee, and has had lots of warning (10 years, by law) that the lease was ending.

The 70's were a time of stagnation and inflation in the U.S. You can romanticize bohemianism all you like, and sometimes it is charming, but as an overall goal it is hardly the prescription for everyone's well-being.

Well certainly not yours..And I'm not the only one guilty of name calling Mr. Locke you really should consider not using that name as someone might get the wrong idea and go after that poor fella that lives here..

"The 70's were a time of stagnation and inflation in the U.S. You can romanticize bohemianism all you like, and sometimes it is charming, but as an overall goal it is hardly the prescription for everyone's well-being."

It seems that statement blames the bohemian lifestyle as being the cause for the stag-flation of the 70's. While I "get" what you're trying to say, I think it's a logical fallacy.

equus_posteriori: No causal relationship intended. And I agree on unchecked capitalism. But I'm not a big fan of socialism or communism or nazi-ism either. I am a huge fan of people taking responsibility for themselves.

Byrd, the name has symbolic and historical value. You think someone would look up a blogger's name in the white pages (actually, the politically correct term is "black and white pages" or perhaps "integrated pages"). To what end? Personal harassment? Such behavior should be frowned upon by all - you wouldn't do such a thing would you? BTW, I assume you took your name from the folk rock group that was famous in the 60's and 70's.

There are some that would go after someone in the honkey pages no, not me..Even if I knew it was you I wouldn't...And no my name didn't come from the great Byrds of the 60's it's pretty much been my name for 35 years...

Yeah, well, ya know there are some folks out there who so strongly believe that theirs is the only true way that they might make, oh, say midnight hangup calls, or maybe publicly encourage the boycott of a small business, or even burn down a bank. Really. Right here in "liberal (definitely) and tolerant (not)" Santa Barbara. Kinda misses the point of small-d democracy. Hence anonymity in posting.

It doesn't matter if we are a communist, socialist, or capitalist society if the majority of people are stressed out, angry and scared. All I know (and what would a simple minded former D-average student such as myself know among all the academics who predominate in S.B.) is that back in the 70's there was a MUCH more laid back feel in Santa Barbara, yet during that time, we were fed the line that growth was good no matter how it was implemented and S.B. went from being affordable and relaxed to overcrowded, overpriced, and frantic, yet this is called "progress".

I am familiar with the screen nom de plume of John Locke--one of the great thinkers of capitalism along with Ludwig Von Mises, John Meynard Keynes, Adam Smith, and so forth, and certainly both Lockes have valid points to make about how each of us must do our bit and take responsibility. That having been said, S.B. is imploding and I think Byrd and Holly are making some very powerful and cogent observations.

While individual excellence should be encouraged, and economic creativity should not be stifled by the micro managerial bureaucrats who plague our government with their Nanny laws, the Vox Populi need to realize that as long as they have the "I got mine, screw you" attitude, social instability will prevail, and we're seeing it happening around us.

Nobody should feel guilty about being blessed with the good fortune of having lots of money, but no matter how they came into this money, and no matter how hard they worked for it, somewhere down the line, they got blessed by the God many of them will not give thanks to.

Thanks for a shot of rational discussion, billclausen. I don't give a whole lot of credibility to academics, if only because they are well-documented to lean far to the left and often seem unable to separate politics from anything else. And no one should ever confuse the achievement of degrees with native intelligence and the ability to think logically.

In many ways I think the entire country was more laid back in the 70's than it is now. But looking longingly backward doesn't help us construct a better future. And certainly ranting at those of differing opinion shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the principles on which this country was founded. Less government intervention in many parts of life would be a wonderful thing, excepting the financial world, where goverment regulators asleep at the switch were a proximate cause of our current economic mess.

But it is interesting that my call for individual responsibility results in a maelstrom of mud-slinging (and not just in this blog). Here's a question: Is California's repeatedly demonstrated ability to spend itself into near-bankruptcy a reflection of its citizens' desire for someone else to take care of them? I know of no other state that is so financially mismanaged that it achieves some of the lowest educational ratings in the country while levying some of the highest taxes. Presumably the spending is the result of demand from the voters? Who also don't want higher taxes? IQ test?

JohnLocke: I can't answer your question because I don't know the thoughts of individual voters. All I can posit is that the average voter doesn't realize how badly the politicians are screwing them.

I wouldn't mind paying higher taxes, but it seems no matter how much we spend, the money doesn't get to where it's going. We hear the politicians say "This bill will go a long way in helping our schools" and of course, the voters approve it, and two years later we hear about how the teachers are digging into their own pockets to buy supplies while the administrators make big bucks. I also remember how the lottery was supposed to help the schools, but once again, the schools fail.

Bear in mind too that unlimited capitalism has its drawbacks; a perfect example is how Big Business loves our open border. These businesses hire illegal immigrants because they know that these people will not speak up against unsafe/unfair work conditions. The benefit to Big Business is that they get cheap labor while their defenders insist it keeps costs down, (although I question if these businesses pass the saving onto US) the drawback is that the gangs are taking over our streets and our test scores are down the drain. In this case, if the government enforced the labor laws that separate us from the Third World, we'd be better off. (As would people south of the border because they would have to deal with the cause of what is driving them up here.)

Free markets are good, but there must be some government intervention from time to time; the question is, how much?

Well said, billclausen. We appear to agree more than disagree. And of course I have no idea how much government intervention is the right amount, but one thing we should have learned from the Bush years is that laissez-faire capitalism actually benefits only a few at the eventual expense to many. The level of Obama's spending scares me (look for a spike of inflation a year or two from now), but it does appear that the economy is beginning to turn.

John Locke I am curious what makes him a freeloader? The story said he bought the house. You read the same story we read and look at your first comment it gives you away as someone negative and ugly inside. You call him a freeloader and ask if your supposed to feel sorry for this freeloader. The guy bought the house. You were looking to spread your ugliness and misery. You state: "John Locke is a character in American history who favored limited government and maximum individual responsibility and freedom. Duh." while your comments applaud big government forcing an individual out of his home.If you valued freedom and responsibility and limited government you would feel sorry for a fellow citizen being evicted from where he resides by big govenment.

I think he should be allowed to renew his lease or why not give him the property? He has resided there for sometime and as the person calling that place home he has a strong argument for continuing to live there over any other use or person. The government has been making money off this property for 100 years. Give him the property rather than evict him.

Get real...the economy is not going to be turning around. What does america make besides bad decisions and rich politicians. As a country we are basically freeloaders since we export nothing and import everything even though we are broke.